Canonical has introduced a packaging system which is called Snaps Linux. It is one of the main features in Ubuntu 16.04. Snap packages are secure and they are set apart from each other. It has many advantages over more traditional package formats such as .deb, .rpm, and others.

To install Snap on Arch Linux

Just like Debian, the Arch developers have also decided to include snap into one of its main repositories. To install snap on Arch, it no longer requires using the Aur. You have to just enter the following command to get it running on Arch box.

sudo pacman -S snapd

To install Snap on Fedora

Unlike the previous two operating systems, Fedora doesn’t have any RPMs package for the snap. The reason for this is that Fedora is going with Flatpack. But if you want to use Snap, then this is the easiest way to get it installed.

To do further, you have to install Copr–

sudo dnf install ‘dnf-command(copr)’

Once copr is on the system, you’ll need to enable the repository we’ll be taking Snapd (Snap) form.

sudo dnf copr enable zyga/snapcore

Then, update your software sources–

sudo dnf update

Finally, install it.

dnf install snapd

Once it is installed, you’re still not done. Fedora comes with SELinux, so some settings need to be changed.

sudo gedit /etc/selinux/config

This command will open the SELinux config in the Gnome editor. Find SELinux=enabled in the configuration file, and change “enabled” to “permissive”. After that, you have to save it and then reboot to apply the setting.

To install Snap on Gentoo

Install snap-confine.ebuild

snapd.ebuild

sudo systemct1 enable -now snapd.service

Source code

If you’re using a Linux distribution that isn’t mentioned above, you will have to probably download the source code and build it yourself. Each distro is different and has its own steps in this process. Go to this page and go through the instructions.

How to use Snap

1) This command is used to list all available snap packages on your system.

snap find

2) Package installation commands are similar to other package managers such as apt, apt-get, yum, dnf, zypper, etc.

To install links snap package type the following command–

sudo snap install links

3) To list of snap packages on your commands type the following command–

snap list

4) To remove the installed snap packages on your system type the following command–

sudo snap remove links

5) If you want to search the particular snap packages on your system then type the following command–

snap find [search-term]

snap find htop

6) Use the below command to check the snap packages history.

snap changes

7) To upgrade one or more snap package on your system type the following command–

sudo snap refresh [package-name]

sudo snap refresh links

8) To get more details about the snap package on your system type the below command. Also, use the second command to get more details about the specific command–

snap –help

snap [command] –help

Drawbacks on Snap

Snap package size is very high in comparison to deb package as since every snap packages are bundled with all the required libraries and dependencies.

It has security issue with RPM system because we need to set SELINUX=permissive mode

Other Universal packages

Applmage

Download the Applmage application, make it executable and run. You don’t have to install it. It runs on most 32-bit and 64-bit Linux desktops. It is a linux app that runs anywhere and is similar to windows and mac application. It works on many of the Linux distribution such as RHEL, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE and Arch Linux systems.

Flatpak

It is the new framework for desktop applications on Linux. The Same app can be installed on different Linux distributions as well as on different versions with the help of Flatpak. It has been designed from the ground up with security in mind so that apps are isolated from each other and from the host system. It works on most Linux Distribution such as Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Mageia and Arch Linux systems.

Orbital apps (ORB- Open Runnable Bundle apps)

It is completely free, open source applications that will help us to run more than 60 apps without installing on a system. You can also run apps directly from USB drive to Ubuntu 16.04.